V-7^ 





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

' Shelf .:*!>-.6.y? 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



/ 
/ 



LITTLE INCIDENTS 



OF THE 



BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, MO, 



BY THE 



OLD FIFE MAJOR 



OK 



James A. Mulligan's Irish Brigade. 



WICHITA: 

EAGLE PKESS. 

1890. 



LIXXLE INCIDENTS 



OF THE 



BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, MO. 



BY THE 



OLD FIKE JVLA^JOR 



COPYRIGH? ^-^oV 




i ' "^Vv. 



James A. Mulligan's Irish Brigade. 



WICHITA: 

KAttLE PRESS. 

1890. 






COZbTTEHSTTS- 



Why I Refused to Enlist 

The Man in Blue 

Miss Norton Presenting the Flag 

The Boys Scooping in the Victuals at Galesburg 

The Lady Protecting Her Trunk at Quincy 

The Tall Iowa Man on Deck 

The Old Negro Scare 

The Red-Hot Coffee-Pot 

The Negroes and the Oxen 

The Soldier Drummed Out of Camp.. 

Our Grand March Into Lexington 

The Fearful Horse Stampede 

The Enemy Charging the Works 

The Brave Girl 

Retakingthe Hospital 

Lashing the Hemp Bales Together 

The Mother Finding Her Son that Was Reported Dead. 

The Brave Confederate on the Black Pony 

The Surrender 

How We Went Out of the City 



X , cJ/Ci^-i- J V-^' t 



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tN the spring of 1861 I lived in the little town of Panola, on 
the Illinois Central railroad, about twenty miles north of 
^ BloomiiAgton. I had lived there for quite a number of years 
and was well acquainted for quite a distance around the town. 
I was very well content to remain there, for I was getting good 
wages and the work was light. 

But when the news of the surrender of Ft. Sumpter reached 
us the sentiiuent of the people changed at once, and it was for or 
against the Rebellion, and that decidedly. Company after com- 
pany was organizing in different places and I was solicited on 
every side to join, and refused as often. It was just this way 
with me : I did not feel quite brave enough to go south and con- 
tend with the little dangers that the Johnnies might set up for 
our benefit ; nor was I quite brave enough to stay at home and 
hear the ladies tell how nice it was to have an able-bodied young 
man that did not care enough about his country to expose his 
precious self. 

These innocent little words rather chafed me, so I concluded 
that I would go north as far as Earlville and work at my trade 
till the war excitement subsided a little. So I started on my 
way, and while sitting in a seat musing over the ill luck that 
had sent me away from home the front door of the car opened 
and in came a fine-looking young man dressed in blue from head 
to foot. As he came up the aisle he looked on one side, then the 
other, till he came opposite where I was sitting, and then he 
bowed very politely and asked permission to share my seat. I 
granted it by moving over, and he sat down and commenced 
talking about different things, and finally the conversation led 
to the prospect of war. He handed me his card and said he was 
representing a company of infantry then drilling in 'Earlville. 

The name of the company was the Earlville Guards, and it 
was composed of men of his acquaintance. He knew them to be 
good, reliable men, and was confident that th«-y would make sol- 
diers that could be trusted. The company was almost complete 
and was now awaiting an answer from Colonel James A. Mulli- 
gan in regard to acceptance in his brigade, located at that time 



at Polk street barracks, Chicago. While we were talking we ran 
into Mendota, where we changed cars, and it was not long till we 
were in Earlville. 

I bade my new friend good-day and went in search of a hotel- 
I soon found one, and found it full of boarders and travelers. It 
appeared to me that the whole country was represented in that 
crowd, and the talk was war ! war ! war ! That kind of talk 
caused me to leave home, so I left the hotel as soon as I got my 
dinner and went in search of work. 

It was not long until I was emplo^^ed by the best painter in 
the place at good wages and I went to work with a will, for I had 
no idea of becoming a soldier. I had three good reasons in my 
own mind for not enlisting : 1st. From what I had heard and 
read I rather thought that war was just a little dangerous 2nd. 
I could make as much in five days at my trade as a soldier could 
make in a month. 3rd. I could go south and fight at any time I 
had a mind to, but enlisted I could not cotae home and not fight 
when I had a mind to. So I worked on for about two weeks, and 
one Saturday afternoon I concluded I would lay off and go down 
town and watch the Guards, as they called them, drill. So after 
I got to the principal part of town I mixed in with a crowd that 
was sitting and standing in front of a large store, and it was not 
long till here came the Guards down the street, and just as they 
came in front of the store the captain brought them to a halt and 
parade rest ; and then he came over to the crowd and said that 
they had two good drummers but no fifei-. and if there was a man 
or boy present that could play the fife he would give them two 
dollars out of his own pocket to play that afternoon. I was con- 
sidered a good fifer, and I told the captain that I would accept 
his offer if he would furnish the fife. It was not long until I had 
the instrument, and I took my place at the head of the company, 
and the captain said, "Attention, Guards ! Shoulder arms I Right 
face ! Forward, march !" And away we went down the street to 
the tune of " The Girl I Left Behind Me." 

After drill was over my late friend, the lieutenant, introduced 
me to the captain and company. I was vei-y much pleased with 
both, and they were very anxious that I should become the com- 
pany fifer. But playing the fife in Earlville, a free man, and 
playing it down in Dixie, an enlisted man, was quite different, so 
I begged to be excused for the present. 

The citizens of Earlville were very proud of this company, 
for it was composed of the best young men in the place, so they 

(4) 



went to work and called a meeting and started a subscription 
paper and raised quite a large sum of money for the purpose of 
buying a company flag, and this flag was to be presented on the 
day they left for Chicago. 

It was not long until the captain received orders from Colonel 
Mulligan to report with his company at headquarters, Polk street 
barracks, Chicago, within ten days. This order struck the boys 
something like business, and all hands were busy from that time 
settling up their business at home so they could leave feeling they 
bad done their duty. 

On the day that they were to start a large crowd had gath- 
ered at the station from the town and country, and when the 
company marched up and came to a halt a young lady by the 
name of Morton stepped in front and presented the flag with a 
few appropriate remarks, and when the flag was unfurled at the 
head of the company the air was rent with the words, ''O Say, 
Can You See " It was not long until the train came in sigjit 
and the tender farewell was heard on all sides. 

After the company had left I really felt sad and lonely ; but 
I went to work with all my might to drive ofi" those sad feelings, 
and I continued to work for about two weeks. But all this time 
I could not forget how much all the people appeared to think of 
the boys that had enlisted, and the ones that stayed at home, if 
they were thought anything of it was by themselves. It was too 
much like goods that had gone out of fashion. It did not matter 
how useful you had been, you were discarded unless you took on 
the suit of blue. So one day while I was bus^' jminting a buggy 
in the shop a young man came in that I had become well ac- 
quainted with and he showed me a letter that he had just received 
from his chum that had enlisted in the Guards, and the letter was 
full of humor and good times. 

The regiment was at that time in the old arsenal at St. Louis 
and had received marching orders, but the letter did not state 
where they were going. My friend sat there for a long time in 
deep study, and finally he said : 

" Skinner, I will go to St. Louis and enlist in the brigade if 
you will." 

" It's a go," said I, and threw down my brush. " I will go 
just as soon as I can get transportation." 

" Well, that is just a little too soon for me," he replied, at 
the same time showing me transportation for two. 



The disease, or whatever it was, was contagious and I had 
become a victim. It did not require much time for us to get 
ready, so on the 10th of July, 1861, we tried government trans- 
portation for the first time. 

When we boarded the train we found a number of soldiers 
going to different commands in the south, and when we got to 
Galesburg they claimed that the conductor did not give them 
time to finish their dinner, and it was just a little funny to see 
the roast beef, chicken and biscuit tumble into those haversacks. 
The landlord remonstrated severely, but the boys told him to 
keep cool and they would do a little fighting for his special ben- 
efit when they got down south, or if he was very anxious they 
would administer on the spot. He was not over anxious, so they 
went on their way rejoicing. 

We got into Quincy some time before the boat that was to 
convey us to St. Louis arrived, and my comrade and I thought 
we would take a little stroll up town to pass away the time. The 
weather was very hot, and when we returned my comrade was 
puffing and blowing like a small engine — he only weighed 240 — 
and as we came into the crowd that had already gathered on the 
wharf, my chum was in the act of sitting down on a trunk when 
a lady sprang forward and caught him by the arm and said : 
" Merciful heavens, man, would you burst my trunk !" 
B's countenance lit up with one of those broad grins and he 
moved forward and seated himself on a rock. 

It was not long until the boat arrived, and we went aboard 
and presented our transportation to the clerk He rang a bell 
and soon a young man appeared and conducted us down stairs and 
to the rear end of the boat, where we found a number of women, 
men, children and dogs, and it was so crowded that we could not 
find a seat and we stepped back a few steps and seated ourselves 
on the floor and leaned back against some oil barrels, and as we 
took a survey of the deck and its occupants we discovered just 
across the way from us, leaning up against a barrel with a cob 
pipe in his mouth, a long, lank, lean-looking individual wholly 
engrossed in his pipe. We hailed him and wanted to know if he 
wanted to enlist. He said he was going to St. Louis for that 
purpose, and when he got awake we found him to be a good 
talker and full of fun. 

When night came on, and the women had stowed their chil- 
dren away in some unseen place, we looked around for some com- 
fortable place to sleep. My chum found a bench and stretched 

(6) 



himself on it, and the tall Iowa man, as we found him to be, 
stretched himself on the floor near the bench ; and we had all 
arranged things the best we could and was just about ready to 
drop off into dreamland when an old negro came in and perched 
himself up in a bunk over our heads with his 15-inch feet hang- 
ing down and commenced on his old banjo, "Dump-a-dump-a- 
dump-a-dump." The music was not very consoling and did not 
strike any of us as very entertaining ; but we thought the negro 
himself would soon tire, so we lay there trying to think of some- 
thing to kill that doleful sound when we saw the tall Iowa man 
rise up and crowd himself in behind the bunk, when he gave an 
unearthly growl, and at the same time caught the negro by the 
feet with his long, sharp nails. There was one kick and pne 
yell, and down came negro, banjo and all ; and I believe I can 
say squarely that I never saw real, genuine scares so plainly 
manifested in any face as it was in that darkey's. You could 
see the scare on the tips of his ears. After this wo all settled 
down to make up Avliat we had lost in sleep, and it was hard to 
tell which made the most noise — my fat chum, the tall Iowa man 
or the engine. 

Finally I dropped asleep and do not know just how far I had 
got, when there came a tremendous crash, and everj'thing was in 
commotion — women praying, men swearing and children crying. 
This was caused by the boat running into a sand-bank and throw- 
ing us all forward. It came near destrojMng the harmony on 
deck, for my chum was thrown off" of the bench on to the Iowa 
man, and he commenced kicking and striking, for he did not un- 
derstand it, and the 240 pounds that struck the tall Iowa man 
caused him to kick and strike as though he was at a loss to un- 
derstand. The awful jolt that the tall man received knocked all 
the understanding out of him, and we had to keep them apart 
till we could explain. 

The next morning everybody appeared to be out of sorts, 
and we were all collected around a large stove or range cooking 
our breakfast, and I do not think I ever saw such a grand dis- 
play of old, banged-up coffee-pots and disabled frying-pans in all 
my life, and the smoke or steam that arose from those old ves- 
sels were red, white and blue. 

One lady had just finished frying a pan of meat and had 
stepped aside to spread the cloth when a lank-looking dog came 
up and was just putting his nose in the pan. The husband of 
the lady was sitting near by, about half drunk, and when he saw 



the dog he gave a spring to kick him, and in his eflForts to do so 
he fell and pulled over on him one of those old coffee-pots — hot 
contents and all. He arose from the floor, caught his pants just 
above the knees, and held them out from him, and circled around 
there at a lively rate yelling "Murder !" His wife caught him and 
tried to soothe him ; but it was no use, for he shoved her away, 
at the same time saying, "Go away, Jennie ; you never were un- 
der a redhot coffee-pot !" 

"We finally reached St. Louis, and were conducted to camp, 
where we found the company. They were glad to see us; but 
the most of the boys had been used to indoor life, and during 
their little service the}^ had become badly sunburt, and looked 
rather rusty. While we were sitting there talking my chum 
pulled out a plug of tobacco and took a chew ; the next man to 
him said, "Let me try that," and try was the word. Chum 
watched the tobacco for a while, and then said, "It may come 
back the same in quality, but not in quantity." 

After supper the captain came around and presented us with 
a blanket apiece, and as soon as the bugle sounded lights out, 
we all rolled ourselves up in our blankets and slept till the 
bugles from different commands called us up. I received for my 
breakfast six hard-tacks, a small piece of meat, sugar and coffee. 
I pounded my coffee on a rock till I broke the grains, and boiled 
it in a quart cup ; the meat I put on a stick and roasted it in the 
fire. At 10 o'clock we were mustered in service and then my 
chum and I were conducted to rather a quiet place in camp by a 
small corporal and instructed in the company drill. It was all 
new to us, and we were surprised to find how awkward we were. 
That afternoon there came an order for grand review, and on 
the account of our awkwardness we were permitted to be spec- 
tators. I had never been accustomed to any military display, 
and I thought it was just immense. General Freemont, Curtice, 
Hallack and Lions were there, and about 12,000 troops, ' They 
formed all the regiments in line, and brought them to front 
face and parade rest, and then the bands belonging to the dif- 
ferent regiments started in on the right and marched to the left, 
wheeled around and marched back to place of starting, then 
came the generals down in front and back to center of line, 
where they stopped and had the i-egimental officers put their 
men through the proper drill. After this they broke ranks and 
each regiment and company went to their quarters, and after 
they all had got back theji made more noise than that many 

(8) 



geese. The next day Colonel Mulligan received orders to report 
with his regiment to the commander at Jeffei'son City, Missouri, 
and it was not long after he received the order till we were 
stowed away on some platform cars, and the old engine started 
with her load of human freight. She weut meandering around 
the hills, up and down grade, and all the time giving us the full 
benefit of a dense volume of coal smoke, and when we arrived 
in Jefiferson City they hailed us as a negro regiment. But the 
cursing and yelling of the boys soon convinced them different. 

After we had removed our traps from the cars we were formed 
in line and marched up through town and out to the old fair 
ground, and when we got there we found it had been occupied 
by city guards, home guards and body guards, and all had left 
but the body guards, aad the gi-ouud was just literally covered 
with them, and so were the boys next morning; and then come 
little scratch, big scratch, and old scratch. It was a bitter dose, 
but we all had to take it, and the size of the dose was determ- 
ined by the size of the man. It was almost impossible for the 
officers to keep the men in camp while wo were at the old fair 
ground, for water was scarce audit was impossible to cleanse 
themselves of the vermin without water; so they would run the 
guard and stay down in the city alj day and then most of them 
come back drunk at night, and they would make the camp hid- 
eous till morning. So the sober men got no rest day or night. 

Colonel Mulligan was strictly a temperance man, and he 
issued an order proliibiting anyone leaving camp without a pass! 
This stopped all but the cunning and fearless ones, and then 
came an order prohibiting any one from bringing any kind of 
liquor into camp. This restored quiet for a while, till they de- 
vised plans to beat the guards. We had one fellow in our com- 
pany that could and would run the guard, no difference how 
stringent the order. And he had a practice of misrepresenting 
everything he said. So those that knew him put no confidence 
in anything he said, and whiskey he would have, and would 
bring it into camp in spite of all the orders. One day he went 
down town and had been on a little tare and concluded he must 
bring some into camp. So he goes and buys one of those old 
fashioned coffee pots with a long spout, and he got some beeswax 
and stopped the lower part of the spout so he could put whis-key 
in the pot and milk in the spout, and then he starts for camp. 
When he come to the picket they halted him and wanted to 
know what he had in his coff'ee pot. "Whiskey," said he. "Well, 

(9) 



you can't come in here," said the picket. "O, yes I can," said he, 
and he told the guard to hand him his cup. He did so and he 
poured out the milk that was in the spout and passed in and got 
on a regular bender that night. 

We stayed in Jefl'erson City till every hen, turkey, goose 
and duck in the country would not permit us see them more 
than once till they were under the house, and the honey and po- 
tatoe crop failed on the citizens. 

It was late in August when our regiment was oi'dered to 
Lexington, Mo., and we had to march through the country. The 
weather was extremely hot and we made but eight miles the first 
day and camped in a beautiful grove. It was not long after we 
halted till the grove was lit up with camp-fires and everybodj' 
appeared to be in the best of humor, and we went to bed and 
slept soundly on the dry leaves. 

Camp was all astir next morning at daybreak and we were 
on the march at 7 o'clock, and by ten o'clock wo came to the foot 
of a small mountain and was making the ascent at a rather slow 
pace when we came to a place where there was a gradual slope 
below the road, but on the opposite side it was a bank of rocks 
straight up and down ; and right here we met an old negro and 
boy driving a yoke of poor old cattle hitched to an old rickety 
cart loaded with a barrel full of something, we did not know 
what. The boy was a stout-looking negro, about sixteen years 
old, and was driving the cattle by a stout rope around one of 
tlieir heads. They took the lower side of the road, and just as 
they got oppposite Company A the company made a charge on 
them, and down the hill they went — boy holding on to the rope, 
plowing up the dirt and gravel with his heels, and the old man 
standing on the road with his hands on his knees yelling, "Hold 
them, Jim ! Hold them, Jim !" Finally the oxen ran against a 
tree and smashed up things generally, and the old man said, "I 
node that nigger fotch 'em up." After this we marched on, not 
caring how much distress we had caused those poor negroes.- 

The second day, when we stopped for dinner, one of Com- 
pany B's men was coui-t-martialed for a gross violation of all law 
and ordei'. The decision was that his head should be half shaved 
and then drum him out. After the shaving had been accom- 
plished the regiment was marclied out into a wide lane and 
placed in a line on each side of the lane, and then the prisoner 
was marched from headquarters to the right of the regiment by 
a small squad of soldiers at trail arms, and when they got to the 

(10) 



right of the regiment the prisoner was ordered to the front ; then 
came a file of men at charge bayonet, aad the music brought up 
the rear, and down the line we went to the tune of "Poor Old 
Soldier." We marched him down the lane, up and over a hill, 
and bade him good-bye. So he was left in a strange country, 
alone, with strict orders never to come back to the regiment 
again. 

We broke camp about two o'clock and moved out on a small 
prairie at route step — every man for himself — when we saw way 
in advance of us a squad of cavalry. We had no cavalry and 
we could not account for this ; but we marched on across the 
prairie and into a heavy grove of timber and camped. Pickets 
were put out on all the roads with orders to suffer no one to pass. 
We had ate our suppers and gone to bed, and all wag as quiet as 
the grave, when bang ! bang ! went two guns way down in a deep 
ravine on the Georgetown road. Every officer was up in a min- 
ute and instructing their men to keep quiet, but be read^' to act 
at once. All was quiet again and nothing was heard but the 
clatter of the horses' hoofs on the Georgetown road ; but this 
proved to be the officer of the day. He had heard the report and 
was going to learn the cause. The pickets claimed, next morn- 
ing, that two or three men horseback were trying to flank them 
and get into our lines. 

We arrived in Lexington the 1st of September and marched 
into the city, grand open order, knapsack rest — the most favor- 
able way a regiment can present itself. The ladies and children 
waved their handkerchiefs, but the men made no acknowledge- 
ments. One way or the other we marched through the principal 
streets and up to the old Masonic hall and broke ranks. We 
found at this place the First Illinois cavalry and about 700 Mis- 
souri Home Guards without any means of protection. Col. Mulli- 
gan soon took in the situation and summoned Captain Coffer, our 
civil engineer, and had him drafc a plan for defense. It was not 
long after this until a detail of ten men out of each company was 
made for fatigue duty, and in a few days we had an embankment 
six feet high and ten feet wide at the base, and outside of this 
was a ditch six feet wide and four feet deep ; and to guard against 
a cavalry charge, we perforated the ground for quite a distance 
around with holes from one to two feet deep. After this was 
done the importance of having plenty of water inside the enclo- 
sure claimed the attention of the colonel, and he pressed into 
service every available team, barrels, tubs axid pails, and sent 

(U) 



them to the river for water to fill some large cisterns that were 
there ; but just as they were loaded and ready to return a squad 
of Confederate cavalry came down and cut oft" our water supply. 
Teams and all were captured ; but they were men that belonged 
to the city. We slept on our arms that night, but nothing fur- 
ther happened. The next morning the colonel sent out two 
companies of the First Illinois cavalry to reconnoiter. They 
took the road leading to the fair grounds and had not gone 
more than a half mile when they were met by a large force 
and had to retreat. They came in pell mell and the rebel 
cavalry in close pursuit. Abe Eli, of Manola, Illinois, was 
hit with a buckshot in the face, and the blood was all over his 
face and breast, and when he got inside the works he said, 
"Did they think they could stop me the way I was coming, with 
a buckshot? Not much !" After the pickets were all drove in 
we could see the artillery on three sides of us preparing to noti- 
fy us of their intentions. They appeared to know that we had 
no artillery, for the cavalry would show themselves in difierent 
places bej'ond gun shot. We had but one six-pounder and that 
was kept to guard the main entrance to the fort. About 3 p. m. 
of the first day we seen a small squad of cavalry coming in from 
towards town with a white flag. Colonel Mulligan sent a 
plattoon to learn the cause. They soon returned with an order 
from General Sterling Price for an unconditional surrender of the 
place. Mulligan looked it over carefully and refused. When 
they received the answer they went back to headquarters and it 
was not long till we heard the blast of a bugle on the right ; then 
came one in the center and then on the left. The sound of the 
last bugle had scarcely died away till crash! crash! crash! came 
shot and shell from three sides. Who can tell how we felt but 
the man who has been in his first battle? What made it so bad 
on us we had no chance to retaliate, for they were beyond musket 
range, and our orders were not to fire a gun till we seen them 
coming up over the hill. They did not advance on us that day, 
but kept up a constant canonading. We had about 800 horses 
and mules inside the works, and they were exposed to the fire. 
The horses belonged to the. First Illinois cavalry. They were a 
fine lot. The most of them were horses that the boys brought 
into the service with them, and it was surprising to see their ac- 
tions and hear the noise they made. Some of the boys could 
not stand to see the poor creatures tied there to be shot down, 
and they sprang out and cut the halters and ropes and then 
came one of the worst stampedes I ever saw. They went pell- 

(12) 



mell from one side to the other till they were killed or escaped 
by. the openings. Up to this time they had been shelling us, but 
the infantry and cavalry were closing in on every side, and the 
musket balls dropped down among us like the large drops of an 
approaching rain storm. While everything looked so gloomy 
and dangerous a little thing occurred that caused us all to laugh. 
We had a little Irishman in our company that had just lately come 
over and he did not know any more about a gun than I do about 
a great many things. His gun had been loaded for him at Jef 
ferson City, and how many times after, we did not know; but 
when the balls were dropping in here and there, Pat seen the 
need of knowing something about his gun, and he turned to the 
corporal next to him and said, "Corporal, how do you manage 
this gun ?" He told him to la}' it down on the breastworks, 
take aim at something and pull trigger. He layed it down and 
looked along the barrel with both eyes open and pulled, and the 
next we seen of Pat he was in the ditch. Blood streaming out of 
his face, he rose up on one arm and looked up at us and said, 
''Can it be possible I got hold of the wrong end of the gun?" 
"O, no," said the corporal. _l'You were all right." "Well, what 
did it do then?" "It kicked you." "Kicked, is it," said 
Pat. • "Well, mark me words, she is no colt at the business " 
After this there was a lull all along the line under the brow of 
the hill, and we could hear the officers saying, "Steady, men, 
steady, men, and then we heard the bugle to charge, and then 
they came — hip jamboree, still yelling like deamous; but the 
perforated ground and our continuous firing stopped them, all 
but one young man on a splendid black poney, who came up 
to the works, discharged two revolvers and returned without a 
scratch. How that pony ever made that run over that ground 
was a mystery to us. After this they came around on the river 
side and took possession of our hospital. It stood down from the 
works on the side of the hill. After it was reported to the 
Colonel he came around to Company A and said. "Captain 
Gleeson, they have taken our hospital and doctors. Can Com- 
pany A retake it?" "We can try," said the captain. "Fall in. 
Company A!" Every man was at his place. 'Attention com- 
pany ! fix bay«tnets! shoulder arms! right face! double quick! 
march!" and away they went — took it, but could not hold it, 
and the charge and retreat thinned the ranks of the company 
badly. Our wounded suffered for the want of water and some 
of them were almost frantic, and there was no way to help it un- 
less some one would volunteer to go to the nearest spring and 

(18) 



it was inside the enemy lines, and to undertake it was sure 
death or capture to any man or set of men, and the result would 
be the loss of the men and no water: but the pleadings of the 
wounded for water was hard for the men to bear but was more 
distressing to a young lady that was helping. She caught up some 
canteens and marched out of the works for the spring as delib- 
erate as though she was going to milk. Every rock and tree 
concealed a sharp-shooter, but that did not stop that brave girl. 
She got to the spring and was surrounded by a number of men, 
and she was detained and held as a prisoner until an officer on 
a white horse came up and ordered them to let her have the wa- 
ter. When she got back she was completely unnerved, and it 
was some time before she could tell about her adventure. She 
said that she told the men she wanted the water for the wound- 
ed, and they did not know whether to let her have it or not, and 
they sent for this officer and he asked who sent her and she said 
•'No one; I volunteered to come, because I could not stand by 
and hear the wounded plead for water and none to give them." 
"Take the water and return as soon as you can and tell the 
wounded that we are not brutes ; that we would not deny a 
wounded soldier a little water." I did not learn who this girl 
or youug lady was, but I think she was a daughter of one oT the 
captains of the Missouri Home Guards. At any rate she was 
brave and true and should receive some praise. 

While we were all waiting for future developments Colonel 
Mulligan came around on a company visit, and as he stopped 
just in front of us along came a solid shot, went through two 
large mules, one wagon, a tent, and passed on its way to the 
rivt-r. From where the colonel and captain were standing it 
missed them about two feet. The colonel said. ''Captain, I think 
they want us to move on. ' and he passed on to the next com- 
pany, and just as he got there the confederates made a charge on 
that point and came near capturing the company flag. The 
colonel yelled, "Stick to your colors, boys ; if they go, go with 
them." Now they had tried us at all points and had an idea of 
our strength and location, and they knew it would be too big a 
risk to try to take the place by storm, so they went to the land- 
ing some distance above the fort and hauled a large number of 
hemp bales down to the foot of the hill and lashed them together 
with ropes and poles till they had a protection that no musket ball 
could penetrate ; and then they had them distributed all around 
on the hillside, and the first thing we knew here they came, fif- 
teen or twenty men to a section of portable breastworks, and all 

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we could do we could not stop them, for every time they turned 
them over we got the contents of their guns. Major Becker had 
command at this point, and we dare not move a man from any 
other point to reinforce him, for they were closing in on us from 
all sides. He stayed and contended until he saw it was all for 
no purpose, and then he surrendered, and after the word surren- 
der passed around they came over that embankment like thou- 
sands of wolves, and we did not know but what we would be 
eaten up at once ; but as soon as they seen us, if they ever had 
any eating intentions they dismissed them, for we were decidedly 
the hardest looking Yanks that ever struck old Missouri. Just af- 
ter the surrender everything was pell mell and confusion. An offi- 
cer rode up to the colonel and demanded his sword. "'Hold!'' 
said General Price ; "if the colonel surrenders his sword it will 
be to me. Keep your sword, colonel, as a token of my esteem 
for you and the officers and men with you." We were ordered 
to stack arms at once, and all government property was taken 
from us, but private property we were permitted to keep. After 
we had been disarmed a heavy guard was stationed around camp 
and we were permitted to go any place within the lines. In 
place of receiving insult and abuse we were treated just the best 
kind, and it made us think that the rebs were not such bad fel- 
lows after all. 

The following morning we were marched down through 
town, not as we came in. Oh, no ! We came in bold and defiant 
and went out rag. tag and bobtail. After we crossed the river 
General Price sent an escort with us out about ten miles, and 
then we were left to forage on the country for supplies. All the 
commissioned officers were taken down town the evening of the 
surrender and we saw nothing more of them until we were ex- 
changed in '62. After we had meandered through the country 
we came to a little town on the St. Joe & Hanibal railroad by 
the name of Hamilton. Here we took a freight train for Quincy, 
111., and when we got there we were surrounded by recruiting 
agents that were very anxious to have us re-enlist. Our answer 
to all such fellows was, "We would go home and see what mother 
said about it." 

The adjutant general of the state sent an order to the com- 
mander at Quincy to forward us by steam to St. Louis to receive 
our pay, and while waiting for the boat that was due at 2 P. M. 
we were lying, sitting and standing in groups on the wharf when 
a fine carriage came along. The driver jumped down and opened 
the door and a well dressed lady was helped out. She approached 
the group where we were sitting and called our attention to a 

(15) 



paragraph in a paper she had in her hand. Before we could 
read it she said, "Please tell me when he was killed, how he wa6 
killed, and where he was buried." It was the announcement of 
her son being killed in the battle of Lexington. While we were 
telling her that we knew nothing about it a strippling of a lad 
stepped out from behind the carriage and but two words were 
spoken and they were in each other's arms. I believe I never in 
all my life 'heard such a heartfelt prayer as that mother rendered 
for the restoration of her son. 

The boat that was ordered to take us to St. Louis was on 
time and it could not accommodate half the number, so part were 
sent by rail. We saw nothing more of them until we got into 
Benton Barracks. 

When we landed in St. Louis the majority of our clothing 
was not there, and we were so embarrassed that we marched 
through the streets with our caps pulled down over our eyes — as 
though that would help our looks. We heard an Irish lady say 
as we were passing, "Where did the ragged robins come from, 
anyhow?" And another, "Their looks indicate service." But 
we stalked along until we got to camp, and there we found the 
108th Illinois and two or three more regiments that we were ac- 
quainted with, and a number of the members went to work and 
made us a reception dinner and would not let us change our clo- 
thing until this was all over We were the prodigals and they 
did not feel offended at our display of poverty. After dinner was 
over and we had a good long talk with our friends General Curtis 
ordered the paymaster to pay us off as soon as possible. It was 
not long until we received some thirty dollars apiece to fit us up 
for home, and when we got down in the city it was just a little 
amusing to see how those Jews would rig out some of our little duck 
leg Irishmen with a pair of pants that would fit them around the 
waist and would have a square eight-inch lap at the end of the leg. 

On our way home the people greeted us kindly at every sta- 
tion and we felt repaid for our little service. I reached home 
about three o'clock in the morning and did not feel like disturb- 
ing any one till daylight, so I folded my blanket around me and 
slept until daylight on the platform. About six o'clock the little 
village showed signs of human life, and as the day advanced I 
was surrounded by many friends and relations anxious to know 
where I had been for four or five months. Up to this time no 
one at home knew that I had been in the service, and when I 
related my little experience I received more flattery than I ever 
did before or since. 

THE END. ' 



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